this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
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[–] kusuriya@infosec.pub 82 points 10 months ago (3 children)

If Biden ended the war on drugs it would nearly completely clench at least his party's re-election, probably swing the congress on over too.

[–] skozzii@lemmy.ca 112 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Not to mention it's absolutely the correct decision.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 24 points 10 months ago

For politicians, the morality and ethics around policy are more of a consolation prize.

[–] jayrhacker@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago

Honestly, people being able to get tested known doses of various drugs of choice would save a lot of lives and create a lot of opportunity to intervene and help people recover. Making drugs illegal just causes miser and funds crime.

[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Maybe for weed, but I don’t think that would be so clear cut for other substances. Even here San Francisco, the public is only willing to go so far with decriminalizing.

I would wager that weed, and maybe certain hallucinations would be bump in the polls, but for narcotics and opioids, ending the war on that stuff would hurt him. But maybe I’m wrong.

[–] kusuriya@infosec.pub 5 points 10 months ago

Ending it would involve more than lel drugs are legal have fun. It would be a shift to focus on treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention by treating social deficits that tend to breed addiction, those are proven consistently effective treatments. If prohibition ever worked we wouldn't have weed, alcohol, and coke would sell completely caffeine free beverages.

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago (4 children)

I'm not necessarily against legalizing other drugs, but I would need a lot of time to research it and understand what studies have been done. There's some substances which are outright harmful and people shouldn't take, and I don't think criminalization is the solution. But, I also don't know that complete legalization is.

Off the cuff, I think I'd support decriminalized possession, but the material is still confiscated. Manufacturing however should remain illegal (other than for weed) because it's way too easy to make snake oil and impurities. I'd favor official govt meth versus making manufacturing it legal.

[–] kbotc@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

You know that there’s government legal meth, right?

Its brand name is Desoxyn.

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Do you know what the first legal government meth was?

Meth.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Desoxyn is literally a brand name for methamphetamine, so you're not saying anything different.

[–] DanVctr@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Wow I just went down a rabbit hole... I feel (pray) so many things would have to fail for you to actually get that Rx filled tho

[–] nBodyProblem@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

It’s a very effective medicine, though. For example, in small doses it’s more effective than adderall or Ritalin for ADHD. It’s less common than either of those drugs because there is a higher abuse potential, but there is nothing really wrong with it either.

The key here is small doses taken orally. Taking it in a medical context is a very different animal than recreational methamphetamine.

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Hm? Widen your scope of semantic salience my friend, I do say something different, but that's just academia, don't take it too seriously it's not a challenge.

[–] TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Our air force crews are often given one of these during combat missions. I imagine other military units use them when necessary, too. They also prescribe it to people with severe narcolepsy.

[–] theangryseal@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Huh? Sorry, I fell asleep. Could you say that one more time?

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I mean we know people will do it regardless, no matter the substance. Substances are being thoroughly tested, and finally seeing serious academic and clinical research on their therapeutic uses, so that is actually going pretty great and showing awesome results (yeyy drugs!!), and I will never get over the argument that prohibition only strengthens the mafia.

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah you really cut out the leg from cartels if you get rid of prohibition.

I think as long as we can positively ID a substance as coming from a safe manufacturer, it's fine. Street products cooked up in a trailer are what need to go away. That probably means the government subsidizes drug companies to provide them at low cost.

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Fuck it manufacture it in government labs, make it taxable. How could that possibly ever be worse than the street wars we have right now?

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Agreed. For that to be politically viable though we need to first render Republicans impotent.

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Look, we can't be adjusting our ideas to take morons into account, one has to have a clear image before one's eyes want one want to achieve, or it ain't gonna get beyond the idea stage.

Is this what we want? Is this what I want? Fuck yes, so we can fight for that, it is well defined and without bullshit, that's a platform easy to defend, you know what I mean? Don't give a shit what some would think or say, wars are not won by appeasing the enemy.

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Oh I agree completely, I'm just saying the first battle in the war is triumphing over the GOP. It's more a logical first step than a necessary one. We don't have to give any quarter, just recognize which battles we need to face and what milestones we need to achieve.

[–] kusuriya@infosec.pub 2 points 10 months ago

you know all of those "illegal" drugs are legal if you have enough money? There isn't a single "illegal" drug that you cant get as long as someone slaps like a Pfizer, Novo Nordisk, or Bayer label on it and signs their name to say you can have it. Prohibition doesn't work, we have a lot of history to show that, we also have a lot of history to know that treatment, rehabilitation, and social safety nets go a really long way towards stopping addiction and substance abuse.

[–] 31337@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I think I mostly agree. Don't think material should be confiscated though, that could cause people to avoid official harm reduction resources. But, I wouldn't want to see private business, like gas stations, liquor stores, or "dispensaries" making profit from selling and pushing fentanyl, tranq, krokodil and stuff like that. I do think more drugs with low addiction and harm potential should be legalized such as shrooms, LSD, and probably most psychedelics.

All that being said all legalization and decriminalization must coincide with massive investment in addiction treatment, harm reduction, and probably housing. Ideally, the root causes of the drug epidemic should be addressed, such as poverty, lack of adequate healthcare such as therapy, people generally feeling hopeless because of their material conditions, etc.

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Completely agree on everything except confiscation -- which I agree is tricky. I think you confiscate anything that's "off brand" to keep them off the streets, but that's it. I don't want some shitty chemist making impure drugs that cause serious harm. Those need to go. We'd need a free certified container program.

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I can't even fathom the rationalization process going on with you folks with the fent and other substances, it really looks like a dystopian Ridley Scott shot when you look at it from the other side of the Atlantic...

Edit: I mean, we're feeling with you homie

[–] beardown@lemm.ee -3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

would be bump in the polls

Yeah and Biden could really use a bump

But enough about Hunter

[–] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm voting for Hunter Biden for president, because he is the politician that I support.

[–] beardown@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You're right, it was wrong to make fun of an incredibly comic figure. Doing so clearly means that I've never voted for a Democrat and that I want Biden to lose. Certainly can't be that I've consistently voted for dems in every election since turning 18 yet think their failures still deserve to be mocked. Good insight 👏

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world -4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

And lose the +Police demographic. Imagine how many other demographic groups that spans. Not to mention, the voters who would go for that are in most part disenfranchised and can't vote due to prior convictions. Which is a human rights scandal in itself, but that is neither here nor there. Except it is there.